- Have you ever tried to understand Islam yourself without blind following?
- Have you ever tried to understand Qur’an without wearing glasses of any particular sect?
- Have you ever tried to know whether the translation of Quran you read is the exact translation or is the resulting idea of the translator? The first addressee of Qur’an were Arabs, Don’t you need to know about their traditions and their diction?
- Have you ever tried to know whether the practices you follow on the name of Islam today are really those that were practiced by Mohammad P.B.U.H and his companions 1400 years ago?
- Have you ever tried to know why current islamic practices do not have that impact on the society that was promised by Allah? Don’t you think Islam is far superior than few rituals?
- Have you ever tried to know that is Islam still in its true state or has been wrapped by other un-quranic or un-islamic mistaken beliefs?
- Have you ever tried to know the reality behind the beliefs injected in your brain since your childhood? Did you read what you were made read?
- Do you consider yourself just a muslim or do you have other identifications as well (belonging to a particular sect)?
- Have you ever tried to judge an unquranic belief on qur’an? Do you understand other books with the help of Qur’an or Do you understand Qur’an with the help of other books? Should’nt you measure all religious concepts/beliefs only by Qur’an?
- Have you ever tried to study different scholars on a same topic without any bias? Don’t you think we should focus on traffic rules and road-sense rather than traffic-constables?
- Have you ever tried to know what is actually required to be a muslim? A human is called a human if he has humanity, it is not enough to be born as a human. So would it be enough to be born as a muslim to be considered as muslim?
- Have you ever tried to come out of your cave and to think out-of-the-box? Do you think what others made you think about Islam?
More questions may be added in the above list. You may also participate by providing your comments and may suggest if I have missed any important point here.
Please Think, You Can Think
!mran
Filed under: Islam | Tagged: Islam, Questions, Truth Seeker
Good Questions…!!!! Next Question Plz.
Hell is the better place, then the today’z world. It’s good to see that still there are few people who are able to think questions like this & are focusing to promote answers to them.
M with you on this.
Regards,
hami,
(One of them who dare, care & share.)
Salamalakum. Your posts really interest me and I am wondering if you have a solution to this problem yourself. That is, not understanding the Quran in Arabic and what you think one can do to understand the quran beyond the translation.
Zavar,
The answer of your question requires great explanation and a complete book can easily be written on it. I am not a scholar. I am just a Truth Seeker like you. I can just share my strategies and experience with you.
1) Whenever you study Qur’an you should forget everything that you have heard or have learnt since your childhood. Qur’an does not allow you to enter into it with a preset mind.
2) Keep aside all un-Qur’anic concepts and just focus on Qur’an. What is written in Qur’an is guaranteed but there is no guarantee of anything outside Qur’an.
3.) Be habitual of pondering into things and in Qur’an. Don’t accept or reject anything without reasons.
4.) You should try to understand the purpose of a DEEN. Like there were men on earth, they started some practices that were harmful for themselves and others in the society. They implemented wrong systems in their society. Allah provided them with a set of instructions that could help them to build a heavenly society where everyone may live happily with no fear and no sadness. You should see The SUN, The MOON, The Stars, The Trees and everything in this world that work according to the law defined by Allah. They have been told what they have to do and you won’t find anyone in them drifting from those laws. But that’s not the case with human. They have been given authority to choose but Allah gives a set of instructions to them to work according to the laws defined by HIM for their own benefit.
5.) The translation of Qur’an helps you to understand actually the understanding of the translator that how he has perceived Qur’an. You can not rely on a single translation. It is better if you check out different contradictory/conflicting translations from different schools of thought and at the same time try to understand arabic.
6.) You should understand the “root system” of arabic language. Words derived from the same root share, generally, a similar meaning. Roots in Arabic count three or four consonants only. The vast majority of roots are trilitteral. For example, k-t-b conveys the idea of writing. Addition of other letters before, between and after the root letters produces many associated words: not only “write” but also “book”, “office”, “library”, and “author”.
7.) You should understand that Qur’an clarifies the central theme of any topic by repeating verses. That is called “Tasreef-e-Ayaat” in Urdu. You should pick-up the relevant verses from different places and if they contradict then try to ponder why?
8.) The best way to understand Qur’an is to understand it from Qur’an itself. Mohammad P.B.U.H left only Qur’an after him. He didn’t leave any explanation in written. Narrations will never help you to understand the Qur’an. But you can sort out narrations with the help of Qur’an if you have good understanding of it.
9.) Don’t ignore the coherence while studying Qur’an.
10.) Research about the phrases that arabs used to use at that time in their daily language.
11.) No Orders without wisdom and No beliefs without laws.
That’s all I can summarize right now, I hope this will help you.
Thank you.
Agreed!
Most practices being carried out today in the name of religion are mostly ceremonial and are being heralded by a bunch of clergy-men. Scholars strictly following Islam to it’s core are extremely rare. For a truth seeker, IMHO, it’s imperative to look for those scholars.
On an individual level, whatever you said is correct!
assalam o alikum
i m a very new truth seeker and may b sum of u will be astonished to see a girl’s name on such site. i dont know what will be the reaction but as i am initially stepped in to find our real ISLAM so i thought sum of u could be really helpful. first of all i do want to know if there is no problem with anyone to inform me with whatever i want to know specially about firqa-bandi.
wa-alaikum-as-salam Tooba!,
First of all, here, no one cares what your gender is. Second thing, all visitors to this blog are welcome to share if they have any thing valuable and to raise any questions if they have.
I hope you would have read my post “Sectarianism (Firqa-Bandi)” http://ifyoucanthink.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/sectarianism-firqa-bandi/ but still if you have any confusion you can discuss here.
I would like you to re-read my response to Zavar http://ifyoucanthink.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/questions-for-a-truth-seeker/#comment-13 if you are a truth seeker like me.
What is “Real” Islam? What is the authority to label an act “Islamic”? What is the criteria behind considering a practice “Islamic”? Is Islam a challenge to religions or a religion itself? The answers of such questions could be really simple for those who are new to Islam and for people who have emptied their mind from mistaken and misinterpreted islamic beliefs.
!mran
thank you so much Imran for ur cooperation. well i m a muslim ALHUMDULILLAH from birth but the seek for truth has started just yet and basically i do want to know the major differences among differnent sects. one of my friend has recommended me a book which i hav just started and i hope your posts and book refrences will be beneficial for me. JAZAKALLAH
Religion, any religion, cleanses us and our lives by teaching us the values of love, truth and mercy. The universal system of lifestyle called Islam, brought to us by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) cannot be learned in its pristine form unless we make an effort to reach for the original teachings and tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him). We can study his life in three phases: Pre-Hijra, Post-Fath-i-Makkah and the period between the two great events. Many of us pick a saying from one period and try to impose it on the other–quite out of context. Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) is not substitute for original text of the Qur’an read in the right context and the true version of the Prophet’s Traditions.